Chapter Thirty-Four

I practiced breathing exercises as my shuttle ferried me to Xilen’s cityship, through the clouds and to the orbital docking array. Much like the structures on the surface, the array had designated sections for ships by species. The largest ships, such as city ships, waited further away. There was a brief stint on the array, long enough for me to board a second vessel more suited to system flight, and then I was on my way.

When I arrived at Xilen’s ship, my transport docked at a different docking bay, one marked with symbols I didn’t understand. So, I can understand the language when spoken but not read or speak it? Great…

“Elara darling,” Xilen greeted me with a tired smile. “You must realize I didn’t mean for you to come in your suit. Would this be your superior’s silliness?”

“You asked for ‘Lethe’ so they sent ‘Lethe.’” I let the suit disappear as I walked toward her and the single guard accompanying her. Her smile broadened when she spotted the Syldrari-inspired pencil dress I’d chosen.

“Ahhh, Lynir mentioned you have excellent taste.” Xilen giggled, circling me briefly before stopping by my side. “I need you to act as neutral as you can muster.”

“Because this is a party of queens you invited me to?” I shifted, watching her grimace.

“ Citomy invited you. She heard rumors from somewhere regarding the Resonance Project—and rumors that you and your team’s ‘DNA’ was spliced with that of the humans’ captive queens,” Xilen muttered bitterly. “I don’t know what she’s up to, but she’s saying we need to ‘embrace’ the ‘synthetic queens.’ And she’s overly interested in what effect this splicing has had on the males of your team.”

“So you think there’s another mole,” I murmured, rubbing my chin. None of that sounds like the information Zafir has been giving Jysel. Hell, it sounds like the work of another researcher. Hmmm…

“Be careful, dear.” Xilen gave me a firm look. “Now then, we should go before my guests grow suspicious.”

I followed Xilen and her guard down the hallway that led away from the docking bay. The decoration was very…human. Light walls, light stone tiled floors, and various human artwork and motion photography hanging from the walls.

“The imperials are more comfortable talking in what they consider a ‘homey’ environment,” Xilen remarked, shooting me an amused smile. “One day I’ll give you a proper tour of my ship. I think you’ll find Syldrari aesthetics are more to your taste.”

“Quite likely,” I agreed.

A pair of guards opened double doors that led into a lounge area with deep red carpeting, leather and carved wood furniture, and nearly a dozen women—each accompanied by one or two guards. There was a bar at one end of the room, stocked high with glass bottles of both human and Syldrari liquors.

Not a single man here. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Even all the guards and staff… I quickly spotted Citomy over by a pair of empty seats—which Xilen led me directly toward. Great .

“Ah! You didn’t tell me she enjoys Syldrari fashions. I would have brought a different gift!” Citomy exclaimed, a bright smile spreading across her face as she examined me.

“A gift?” I questioned, keeping my expression and tone both neutral.

“Yes, I wish to personally thank you for your contributions in protecting the Syldrari Sector.” Citomy rose gracefully to her feet and lifted a dark blue wood box off her side table. She opened the box, revealing what appeared to be a dark, opalescent shell. Patterns were carved into the entire thing and lit from within using some glowing substance that looked to be part of the shell. She went on to explain, “An early form of Syldrari art. The name translates to ‘Hunter’s Lantern’ in your language. Syldrari warriors and hunters would carry these with them in the depths to light their camps and deter beasts—water flowing through the carvings creates a sound that disturbs the more dangerous cavern creatures.”

“Thank you. It’s beautiful.” I accepted the box from her and visually traced the intricate patterns, then looked back to Citomy. “Ah… I apologize, I’m not quite sure what is the proper way to address you.”

“Citomy is quite fine.” She continued to smile at me as she reclaimed her seat. “Syldrari don’t have many titles—and the ones we do either don’t translate well, or other species can’t say them.”

Xilen sat as well and gestured for me to do the same. Once I had, Xilen turned to Citomy and spoke, “Elara has done much to help the Syldrari Sector, but I must ask why you requested her presence here. Bringing a human to one of these get-togethers is unheard of.”

“My sources tell me Elara’s genetics were spliced with that of a queen—I wished to confirm that in an environment free of interference.” Citomy focused her gaze on me. “It is quite unusual to encounter a human with a Syldran name.”

“Your son, Rel, named me so that he wouldn’t have to call me by a numerical designation like the humans had been,” I answered, drawing the attention of several other queens. “It was only within the past few months that the brass allowed us to take on names. For the past several years, we’ve all been referred to as ‘Subject’ followed by ‘assigned numbers.’”

“A number ? How dreadful!” One of the other queens, a woman with deep brown skin and tri-toned neon pink, blue, and purple hair came to join us. “Humans. They treat all their ‘subjects’ like they were grown in a tube…”

“For all I know, I was,” I responded with a shrug. “My past was eradicated along with the city I supposedly grew up in. No one is left who may have known me. The same is true for the other survivors of the original Incident of course.”

“‘The original?’” Citomy narrowed her eyes.

“You haven’t heard?” I asked, and she shook her head. “Someone got their hands on either partially destroyed components of the weapon, or perhaps fragments of the design. There have been eight more attacks that I’m aware of—with varying degrees of destruction. It appears that someone is using this planet for weapons testing.”

“You don’t believe its Jysel?” Citomy’s eyes widened.

“Hmm? Ah—the Syldrari who threatened the imperial government?” I tilted my head, feigning confusion briefly. “No. I hear he killed his own father in retribution for the Resonance Incident. It strikes me as illogical for someone who feels that strongly to turn around and use the same manner of weapon themselves. I’d sooner believe someone sold the damaged parts to another clan or the imperial military.

“Besides, if his goal is the queens the imperial military may be hiding, testing a weapon so recklessly would put those queens at risk. I would like to think Syldrari aren’t anywhere near as stupid as humans.”

Citomy just stared at me for a moment, while several other queens—Xilen included—attempted to hide amused laughter. After a moment, Citomy responded, “It’s strange to think you’re a mere soldier. I thought the imperials didn’t allow their soldiers to think.”

“I get that a lot.” I smiled at her and crossed one leg over the other, leaning against my left arm rest. “I’m told I would have made a good researcher if the Incident hadn’t changed the course of my ‘fate.’”

“I see why Xilen likes you,” the dark queen smiled at me and perched her hip against my armrest. “My human name is Lilaek. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s good to meet you as well, Lilaek.” I have her a small smile. “Forgive my curiosity, but…’human name?’”

“Syldran names are long and difficult to say,” Lilaek mused, swirling her drink in her glass. “When we’re born, we receive several names—a variant for each of the species we’ve encountered, as most Syldran names are only partially discernible to anyone else. In human terms, you could say that each Syldrari’s name is a song.

“‘Elara’ translates to ‘song of the depths’ in your language because that is essentially what the full word is—a song about the deepest reaches of Syldra’s oceans, and the mythical monsters and gods that dwell within it.”

…seriously? Does that mean in Syldran, someone’s full name is minutes long? I wondered, aghast.

“Rel did always enjoy ancient legends and texts,” Citomy murmured, an amused smile on her face. “He can be quite standoffish. There must be something about you that drew his attention, for him to have named you after something so dear to him.

“Perhaps he should be another gift to you. As you aren’t a queen, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind terribly much. Would you like to have my son?”

Her offer took me by such surprise I could only stare at her for a moment. It was Xilen who spoke up first, “Citomy! You know Elara couldn’t possibly afford his price— I can .”

“Yes, yes, you’re filthy rich—but yours is a clan of merchants . You’re not warriors, you have no hope of capturing a R’selkti’s interest beyond the money we can make when you hire us to guard your convoys.

“Elara is a human with a queen’s genetic material, and a warrior of her own. She’s much better suited to keep Rel. As for the price…ah. I’m sure the imperial government would be happy to pay.”

What in the… My mind sped through the options at hand. If I said yes, that seemed like a surefire way to damage Rel’s trust—and it would break my own moral code to boot. If I said no, then Citomy would continue attempting to sell Rel—and potentially succeed with a horrible buyer. Then there were so many other issues… “I…struggle to see how selling your offspring is an acceptable practice. However, putting that aside, I won’t be alive for long even if I retire comfortably.”

Citomy paused mid-reach for her communicator and gave me a strange look. “What is so unacceptable about it? And, humans have plenty of technology to keep themselves alive forever. I’m sure you’ll manage just fine, dear.”

“I’m incompatible with their ‘life extension’ technologies. All of them. I’m nearing the age where they replace a soldier’s body, so they began running tests.” I shook my head slowly, then narrowed my eyes at her—an expression that made the others visibly nervous. “As for selling people … Humans from many planets have a storied history of human trafficking and enslaving both other races and species merely because ‘they’re different and therefore inferior.’

“As someone who is working for the military only because my other option was to be sold to the highest bidder—I can’t condone such practices.”

“They would sell someone with a queen’s genetics?!” Lilaek demanded, before turning to look at Citomy. “We can’t let the humans—”

“You want my son though, don’t you?” Citomy leaned forward, her expression unreadable as she peered at me.

“If I’m going to ‘have’ or ‘keep’ any Lun’iri—or any of the other sexes, now that I think abou it—it will be because they give themselves to me willingly. Not because they were sold, or gifted, or anything else of the sort.” I shot back, refusing to back down. “People shouldn’t be sold. That is how you end up with dozens of species forced into a fighting, sex, and entertainment ‘club’ like the one I busted. The one that, I should point out, had Syldrari of every sex held captive and drugged.

“It’s a slippery slope. Take a wrong step and suddenly more of your species will be selling their own people to turn a profit or silence people.”

“What do you mean ‘more of?’” Lilaek frowned, turning to face me fully. “As far as I’m aware—”

“Yes, Imperator Julien? I wish to discuss the potential sale of my first-born son to one of the women produced by the Resonance Project,” Citomy spoke into her communicator, clearly ignoring the rear of us. “Hm? Of course I know about the Resonance Project. I have eyes and ears everywhere, dear. Now then…”

“Elara, what were you talking about?” Lilaek nudged me worriedly. Noticing my questioning look, she explained, “I’m…think of me as the Minister of Defense, Justice, and Law.”

“I see. At least one of the Syldrari was sold to the club by his queen, and it sounded like it’s a fairly common practice. The other people I rescued, and the other Syldrari I interact with, were all unsurprised,” I answered, watching as Lilaek’s expression began to contort in anger, and her gaze shifted between the other queens. “Would it help if I explained what he looks like? From what I understand, Syldrari coloration is regional…”

“Yes. Please.” Lilaek nodded firmly. “Selling Syldrari for profit is illegal, and this queen must face punishment.”

“He’s translucent white, and he appears to be from a clan dedicated to research,” I offered, watching as Lilaek’s eyes widened. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t make too much commotion or drag him back into the mess unnecessarily. The poor boy is quite traumatized.”

“What makes you think you can give any of us directions?” One of the other queens snapped, glowering at me.

“It was a request—not a direction.” I gave the woman a foul look. “And, considering you aren’t human, you shouldn’t find me so threatening that you start barking like a frightened dog.”

“Would you like to take Jysel too? My twins would be perfect for you,” Citomy called, glancing in my direction, before returning her attention to the communicator. “What do you mean that’s more credits than your treasury would have even if your empire had never spent any of it?”

“The empire is less than a thousand years old. They can’t pay even a fraction of what you want for one of your children, let alone two of them…” Xilen rubbed her temples as Citomy shot her a blank look.

“What about that planet we were discussing? Give it to me, and I will give both Rel and Jysel to Elara,” Citomy suggested. “There will be some terms of course to make certain you and your people don’t dissect or study my sons too much, but you did say the project forerunners wish to see if breeding hybrids is a possibility, yes?“ Citomy stood and began pacing along the window as she argued with the fucking leader of the imperials about how to sell her twins to me.

“Shhh. Have a ludrán.” Xilen covered my mouth with her hand, shoving at least half a dozen candies into it. “Imperator Julien is a smart man. For a human. He won’t give in. He, unlike Citomy, has a firm grasp on the known universe’s economy…”

“How dare he!” Citomy threw her communicator across the room, then crossed her arms and stalked over to the bar.

Xilen shrugged and gave me a small smile. “See?”

“I didn’t see anything,” I mumbled around my mouthful of candy.

“Smart girl,” Lilaek remarked dryly. “Before I begin my investigation…I suppose I should calm Citomy.”

“Citomy, Elara’s allotted time is up—she must return to the surface,” Xilen spoke up, earning a disgruntled pout from the other woman. “Come along, Elara.”

I considered leaving behind my ‘gift’ from Citomy, but something told me not to. Instead, I picked up the box, thanked Citomy for her ‘generosity’ and left the room with Xilen

Once we were out of the damn room, I glanced at Xilen and asked, “Why did she seem so… bitter about your ‘richness?’”

Xilen perked up, a bright smile coming to her face. “Ah! I’d be happy to explain Syldrari trade to you! Traditionally, Syldrari use money for very few things. Throughout most of our history—and even now—necessities are provided communally and without charge. Luxuries are bought with I’jahlti , which is a leaf-shaped currency carved from shells like the one in that box you’re carrying.

“‘Luxuries’ to a Syldrari are things that can’t be traded for fairly or done by yourself in the absence of trade. Usually, this means paying someone to play a part on the creation of an artistic work…such as hiring someone who plays an instrument that you can’t to improve upon your score. Usually, these services are traded as well, but there are situations when they aren’t.

“Exposure to other cultures resulted in a need for us to understand and adopt a more direct currency system for use when interacting with other species.”

“I…can’t even begin to understand how Syldra even has an economy.” I rubbed my temples.

“We’re creators and scholars by nature, darling.” Xilen smiled. “All most of us wish to do is create, research, and experiment in peace without other stresses distracting us.

“Citomy has come to feel that her clan is underpaid and has been slighted for millennia, as her birth clan and the R’selkti are both warriors who spend their lives fighting off the dangerous fauna of our world—and other off world threats. She expects the compensation to mirror the old trades.”

I rolled my eyes. “She sells her children off and she isn’t ‘rich enough?’ Oh, how my heart breaks for her…”

“Yes, well, she’s awful with money and never listens to her financial advisor since he’s one of her husbands.” Xilen sighed in exasperation. “Granted, she didn’t listen when she had any other sex as an advisor either. She believes that if she wants something, she should take it. If she can’t take it, she will buy it. She is very…human, in that regard.”

“…how did she produce such emotionally mature sons, then?” I asked, aghast.

“Oh, the tried and true desire to not become like one’s parents transcends the boundaries of species…” Xilen mused. “A half-grilled steak would be observant enough to tell that Citomy’s varied behaviors are almost all frowned upon.” Xilen paused for a moment, tilting her head. “Half grilled steak…hmmm… That saying didn’t translate quite as well as I’d hoped.”

“Do I even want to know?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Ah, there’s this delicacy I like on another planet, but it’s cooked alive. Well, ‘alive’ is a loose term all things considered, as no one can seem to agree if it’s classified as a living creature or if it’s a vegetable…”

Yep. Didn’t want to know. I shook my head. “Right. Anyway, this is my stop?”

“Yes…and I recommend you regale Rel with his mother’s antics the moment you have a chance.” Xilen narrowed her eyes at me. “It’s best he hears it before she gets a chance to twist the tale. She’s spiteful—it’s likely she will try to ruin whatever your relationship with Rel and Jysel is.”

“Thanks for the advice.” I nodded to her as she opened the door to the ship bay. The waiting pilot bowed slightly when he spotted us.

I stopped and turned to look at Xilen, but she promptly put a finger over my lips and smiled. “Don’t worry, Elara. I’ll be fine, and I’ll keep tabs on Lilaek’s investigation. The amount of wealth I have that I can pay people with makes the other queens highly inclined to stay on my good side.”

“Still, be careful. There’s workings on the surface that I’m concerned about too, and they’re not the kind money can save you from.” I sighed and gave her a firm look. “You know who you can ask for details.”

“Just for you I’ll be extra cautious.” Xilen giggled at me, gently nudging me toward the shuttle. “Go on now. I’m sure Rel and Zafir are beside themselves by now.”

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